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Some explanations for the general public Social or cultural anthropology, also called ethnology, is the scientific study of human society, or particular societies or groups, in their social aspects. This includes the study of political and economic systems and pattern, social organisation and kinship, religion, myths and rituals, technology, nutrition and healing, and so on. Related disciplines are archaeology, linguistics, sociology, history, and economics, among others, which can all be called socio-cultural studies. What distinguishes ethnologists or social anthropologists from archaeologists or historians is that they usually emphasise the contemporary aspects of culture, and therefore stress the observation and collection of data during what is called fieldwork. The study of an actual society, group or subject of interest usually produces what is called a monograph, in which the anthropologist publishes his findings, including theoretical aspects relative to his interests. Another type of publications are comparative research results. These are books or articles in which the researcher compares different societies or groups in different contexts, or a society in different historical times, in order to elucidate generalities about human society, or to illustrate principles of transformations and of variation of social phenomena.

What type of research is published on AusAnthrop The main research project currently proposed by AusAnthrop is in relation to the Western Desert of Australia, and Aboriginal Australia in general. This project is interested in historical and contemporary aspects of the kinship system in relation to land tenure systems of Aboriginal groups in this more than 600 000 km2 wide area of Australia. The Western Desert is composed by more than 40 dialectal groups of one common language, Wati or South-West language. The cultural and linguistic similarity between these groups was recognised as early as 1938 by anthropologist Elkin, and was later termed by Berndt, another anthropologist, the Western Desert Cultural Bloc. However, the AusAnthrop site also includes other research projects and on line articles. Not all are linked yet in the Local Menu on the left hand side, but they will be added whenever they're ready for publication. So please visit us again... If you're an anthropologist or a student in anthropology, and you would like your research project and outcomes to be available to a wider public, please contact us.